Students and community members have been left heartbroken after Southern Cross University announced it would axe its creative arts program.

SCU will no longer offer a standalone Bachelor of Arts, or degrees in contemporary music, art and design, or digital media.

Vice-chancellor Tyrone Carlin said they were no longer viable.

“What we’ve seen across Australia as a whole over the past half-decade in particular is a really marked decline in demand for creative arts programs, and that’s been a national trend,” he said.

The university will not accept future enrolments, but current students will be able to complete their studies.

From 2025, the university will only offer a Bachelor of Arts as a double degree with a Bachelor of Education.

In 2021 the Morrison government introduced the Job-ready Graduates Package, which increased the cost of arts, law, and commerce degrees while cutting costs for many science, technology, engineering, and mathematics courses.

Professor Carlin said that may have contributed to the reduced demand for creative arts.

“But there could have been a whole series of other factors at play too. It’s hard to know.”

Federal Education Minister Jason Clare said in a statement the government was establishing the Australian Tertiary Education Commission to drive long term reform, including the setting of university course fees.

Worries SCU’s home city will ‘lose its colour’

Digital media student Amoretta Hartley moved to Lismore to study and said the city would feel the loss of arts students.

“They have such a great music and arts scene. There’s always gigs happening. There’s local street press and a big arts community,” she said.

Arts Northern Rivers director Jane Fuller said the university’s decision was an “incredible disappointment”.

“The impact of not having a suite of courses offered right here in our community I think will affect allied businesses, cultural tourism, retail, as well as all the well-known arguments around social cohesion,” she said.

“It will really affect the vibrancy of how we see ourselves.”

Professor Carlin said the university would welcome more students to its Lismore campus in 2025 than it had for “many, many years”.

“There’s growth in demand for our health programs, exercise, sports science, our teaching programs and diploma programs.

“We’ve had to make some tough decisions … but we’re not shrinking, and we’re not shrinking away from Lismore. Quite the converse.”

In April, a new masterplan “re-imagined” the campus with a shift towards more postgraduate and research positions.

At the time the uni said it would continue to deliver courses to around 1,000 students at Lismore, down from around 5,000 when the campus opened 30 years ago.